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Fantasy Dictionar
Fantasy Dictionary
Writing a fantasy story often involves world-building: creating the setting in which your story takes place. Physical location is an important part of this phase—the house, cavern, mountain, forest, town, ship, island, or any other space your characters inhabit. But it is more than just a place. Building a world may mean thinking about the history, art, music, language, clothing, and customs of the story’s people—how they earn a living, what they do on holidays, and what everyday objects they use.
Of course a writer can’t design every aspect of a culture. If you did that, you’d never get around to writing the story! But here is the key: you want to think carefully enough about these things so that the reader believes your fantasy world goes on beyond the edges of your story. You want this imaginary world to feel real. And you do that with some well-placed, clear, creative details.
So let’s do some world-building! Please come up with objects, places, words ... any ideas for a fantasy story’s world. Tools, animals, types of clothing, dwellings—any of these and more may become necessary elements in our story! You may suggest as many as you like, or even post a strange word and let others suggest meanings. If you want, you can also write a sentence using the word or describing the fantasy place. Here are two examples:
haloris – a lantern that gives off both light and a pleasant scent. It is used by people who live near the swamps to counter the odors of mud and decay.
“Quill’s boots sank into the moss, deeper at each step, and ahead she could see a swamp, moonbeams glittering on pools that lapped around the tree roots. Catching the stench of stagnant water, she pulled the haloris lamp from her pack and set it alight.”
gnawk – a large, black bird with a raucous cry and uneven feathers that always look ruffled and untidy. Gnawks have a fondness for pecking and chewing on rope, and they are notorious for setting free dogs and farm animals tied with ropes. They unmoor boats tied to docks, and have been known to free certain fortunate prisoners.
Can you see how story ideas practically ooze from your Fantasy Dictionary, once you get your imagination going?
submitted by Fred Durbin
(April 23, 2014 - 10:11 am)
(April 23, 2014 - 10:11 am)
Ornami-a ornately carved glass container for potions made by wizards. There is a different carving design on each container for identifying what kind of potion it holds. (Snake carving for poison, butterflies and flowers for healing potion, etc.)
Tyro-a small country placed in the middle of beautiful mountain woodlands. It has five provinces.
Sniths- part of the currency of Tyro, the coin of the lowest worth. It looks like a tiny bronze doughnut with patterns etched into it.
Hotches-almost equivalent to a quarter. It is round and silver and has Tyro's flag engraved in one side and the family crest of Folo Sequarty (the ancient king of Tyro) embedded in the other.
Zills-equivalent to about a dollar. It is bronze colored and looks like a flat square.
Quaros-the coin of highest worth. It is triangular with a circle cut out of the middle. It is made of solid gold.
(September 9, 2014 - 11:36 am)
Not sure if something similar has been suggested yet, but:
Fortunae (pronounce four-tune-eye) - Those who devote their life to treasure hunting, or finding ancient artifacts.
Streal (stray-al) - A thin-bladed knife, often with a serated edge, with a leather-wrapped hilt.
Fiirnal ( Fear-nahl) - A weaker form of elemental bird, much like a phoenix, but with less power.
Hope this helps!
(September 9, 2014 - 3:34 pm)
Wow. This is incredible, I'm blown away by all these words. I have a few to add of my own-
skytreal (SKY-tre-yal) A gigantic bird of prey that eats humans- it dwells in cold climates. It's feathers can be used to reflect sunlight into the eyes of other threatening skytreal, and when shifted a certain way, they can be used for camouflage- blending in to the snow. It's head, down to its shoulders, is made purely out of bone, without any flesh or feathers.
psochhe (SO-chay) A human that possesses a djinn, or spirit (can be good or bad), causing their irises to turn pale yellow. The djinn infiltrates its host's thoughts, and encourages its host to do good or bad things, depending on the temperament of the djinn. Only those with the purest spirit and the strongest will can resist the musings of the djinn.
eterhael (et- er- AL) A spell or prophecy, usually of the wicked type, that is destined to happen and cannot be stopped, unless the recipient of the spell is in possesion of/ attains something unattainable- unattainable in means that it doesn't exist (at least to the extent of the spell- giver's knowledge). The spell giver must dictate what this object exactly is at the end of the spell/ prophecy. For example, the wicked fairy gave Sleeping Beauty a eterhael, and said that it could only be stopped with true love's kiss, which she didn't think existed. (Have any of you seen Maleficent? So good!)
(September 9, 2014 - 7:30 pm)
Love your words! Nope, haven't seen Maleficent yet, but it looks good.
(September 11, 2014 - 8:25 am)
Yupi : A messy, sprawling, town in the middle of a swamp. Full of Gum Lilies, little islands, boatways, and shiny fish, it's sort of like Venice except nowhere near so pleasent. It is full of fortune tellers conmen, fire-eaters, low-quality wizards, herbists, and others.
Kurgon : What Khoas's monsters are called.
(September 9, 2014 - 7:26 pm)
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehheheh
(September 12, 2014 - 11:09 am)
Winterbrand- a tattoo made of frostbite that allows you to enter and exit the Castle city
"Marsh nervously pushed up his sleeve to reveala small blue dolphin circling his arm. It was a false winterbrand- and his key to finding the Kirgaran"
Linterness- a deseise that affects your memory and leads you to beleive you are someone else.
"When Kira's great-grandfather was struck with Linterness, he wouldn't stop insisting that he had married the Queen of Euratia and his daughter was in great danger. He had no daughter."
(September 9, 2014 - 7:52 pm)
Wicky:any size basket made from either wick,grass,or sticks.
(September 10, 2014 - 1:00 pm)
. . . and there are now 200 posts on the Dictionary Thread !
Glimrem : A vision that takes place when you look at the second moon for 7 minutes and then blink. Often just a picture of a future self, but sometimes a symbol or word.
Lugora : A creature which looks like a tree, but turns into a true tree on the night of a full moon. It's said their wood makes instruments sing loud and clear, and it's sap makes the sweetest syrup.
(September 10, 2014 - 6:57 pm)
Grotch-a creature that lives in Tyro. It has two tails, each of which have two 'blades' on the end. It is a cross somewhere between a mammal and a reptile. Though it has thick white fur all over his body, it has scaly feet, tails, and has a forked tongue and reptilian eyes.
Tyronian Longwing-another species of Tyro. This dragon has a wingspan of up to twenty feet, and weighs up to five-hundred pounds. It has a muscular deep green body with spikes running down it's back to it's tail, and has a lighter green chest and stomach. On it's head are two curved horns pointing forwards and has razor sharp teeth. It has four legs.
Crimson Deathwing-this extremely rare dragon lives near warm places (volcanoes, deserts, etc.). It has a fiery red body with uneven black places and stripes. It is a fairly thin dragon, not as muscular as the Tyronian Longwing, but is very fast while in flight and more powerful than the latter with breath that can melt nearly anything.
(September 11, 2014 - 9:26 am)
There are now 204.
(September 12, 2014 - 11:26 am)
There are now 204.
(September 12, 2014 - 11:26 am)
Hehe, no there are 205 ! Now 206 !
The gangs in Yupi are :
Zylor : The fast, the agile, the clever
Grugun : The strong who overpower their victims with brute force.
Sythondor : Brave, clever, secretive gang, the spys . Can be bribed to do dirty work.
Gang Slang :
Deda (Used by all) : A traitor
" Kill the Deda . "
Catman ( Used by Gurgon ) : A Zylor or SneakAttack Sythondor
The catman slipped up the tree like a shadow came alive.
Sparkle- < Prefix > ( Used by all ) A _______ with magic
" Sparkleboys aren't welcome here, " The Gurgon growled.
Guardi ( Used by all ) : Slang for the Gaurdians of the City
Soft- < Prefix > ( Used by all ) : Nobilty or rich people.
Slop ( Used by all ) : food
Nursery ( Used by all ) : base
" The nursery's invaded , " The Gurgon told his chief.
Quill < Plural Noun > ( Used by all ) : A messenger.
Scribble ( Used by all ) : Scribe
(September 12, 2014 - 6:37 pm)
My ideas
Royal Shaphire:
A gem given to the children of royalty, the colour depends on the gender of the gem and child, pink/purple for Females and Blue/grey for males, The gem has a conscious and its own personality, it guids the child towards power over the kingdom and is the childs guide for life, it also has unlimited power.
Where it can be found: in the cave of the Grilm Dragon
Grilm Dragon:
A species of dragon that is ruled by the females, they have an intrest in Royal Shaphires they are in truce with the people but it is coming to an end, their eggs are in a shell of rare Grilm gold
The Royal Music box:
Given to the eldest of the princesses, a magic music box incrusted with 24 kart Grilm Gold and a Royal gem, the music when played can give the owner ablilitys of they gem, only a person with a pure heart may open it.
Grilm Gold:
The gold from the eggs of the dragons exstracted from the shell has healing ablilitys
Used for medicine and magic
(September 13, 2014 - 10:15 am)
Eceara: The world or the universe being one or the same thing, evrything entertwined like the fabric of time and space.
Taani: a sort of porridge with vegetables and meat in it.
Lepya berries: help hasten the healing of bruising and burns.
Khelra: a weed that grows along the river shores.
Topque: A little rodent with big eyes and sharp claws that are used for food, most commonly in stews or roasted.
(September 13, 2014 - 3:01 pm)